Uttar Pradesh: Two Dalits thrashed, paraded with placard reading 'cow thief' for allegedly stealing cows in Ballia

Two Dalit youths were thrashed and their heads shaved for allegedly stealing cows from a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia on Monday.

Dalit youths face mob violence from cow vigilantes for allegedly stealing a cow from a temple in Balia,UP. 2 people were allegedly thrashed & their heads partially shaved,faces blackened after which they were paraded across town with placard around neck reading 'I am a cow thief' pic.twitter.com/PifMku5jXN

— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 11, 2018

According to CNN-News18, the people who blackened the victims’ faces were cow vigilantes. The two Dalit youths, after having their heads shaven, were paraded through the streets with a placard hanging around their necks which read “cow thief” in Hindi.

The police said Uma (22) and Sonu (22), farmers from nearby villages, were arrested for cow theft, while another person was held on charges of assault, reported  The Indian Express . The victims were allegedly assaulted by a mob on Ghazipur road in Rasra town when a priest of a temple saw them with two calves and raised an alarm. “At around 5 am, the two youths were walking the calves on the Ghazipur road. A priest from Nath Baba Mathiya temple spotted them, following which locals gathered and beat up the duo,” the report quoted Avadhesh Kumar Chaudhary, Circle Officer (CO), Rasra as saying.

A video of the incident has surfaced online as well. As per the  The Asian Age , an FIR was lodged against the two Dalits and the cows were seized from their possession. “We are probing the matter and the guilty will be punished,” The Asian Age quoted Jagdish Chand Yadav, SHO, Rasra as saying_._ The police also assured that action would be taken against the villagers as well.